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Experiences of transformative learning in fashion design education
Author(s)
Vlok, Anna Gloudina
Date Issued
2017
Type
Thesis
Publisher
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Abstract
This exploratory study identified aspects of transformative learning in fashion design and
teaching practice. These aspects enabled fashion design graduates to distinguish
transformative experiences retrospectively through the lens of reflection. The guiding
research question in the study investigated how fashion design graduates make meaning of
their learning experiences while students, on later refection in their work environment.
The question is supported by three sub-questions:
What are the components of transformative learning that can be identified in the reflection
of the graduate?
To what extent did participants engage with the phases of transformative learning?
How did the graduates make meaning of their learning experiences with specific reference
to aspects such as personal and emotional transformation, social adaptably, and disciplinary
knowledge in use?
The seminal works underpinning the research were those of King (Handbook of the Evolving
Research of Transformative Learning Based on the Learning Activities Survey), Mezirow
(Perspective Transformation) and Kolb (Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of
Learning and Development), all of which formed the scaffolding for the development of the
Learning Activity Narrative or LAN. The LAN advances King’s Learning Activities Survey (LAS),
to include narrative data, which fashioned a significant modification of the LAS model. A
further adjustment to the approach was that this study focused on graduates, while previous
studies were conducted with students.
In this exploratory study, I adopted the dual role of researcher and student. As student I had
a journey of personal growth during engagement with participants’ storytelling and narrative
contributions. At the same time, I could identify with the personal development and growth
that the participants experienced through interaction with one another. A methodological approach that drew on elements of narrative and numeric data was
applied. Data sources included a pilot study, online questionnaires, and face-to-face
individual interviews with graduate participants. Participants in the study reported that their
traditional perspectives of personal and emotional transformation, social adaptably and
disciplinary knowledge acquired during their study period, were shaped and changed
considerably in the context of interactions with peers and lecturers, and in specific class
activities. The graduate participants’ narratives reveal how interaction with peers and
educators served as a means for transforming the ways in which they prepared for life in the
work environment, and subsequently in the work environment which contributed to making
them more resilient and adaptable in various professional and interpersonal circumstances.
The value of the study is located in the domain of diffraction, an advanced, iterative and
methodological expansion of the reflective model, which resulted in resonant narrative data.
Diffractive analysis necessitates the engagement in the experience of reading data, rather
than reading the data as separate or independent. The diffractive analysis process engages
the data as a co-constructive force that works with the researcher. The study contributes to
the conceptual discussions of the connections and interruptions between diffraction and
reflection.
teaching practice. These aspects enabled fashion design graduates to distinguish
transformative experiences retrospectively through the lens of reflection. The guiding
research question in the study investigated how fashion design graduates make meaning of
their learning experiences while students, on later refection in their work environment.
The question is supported by three sub-questions:
What are the components of transformative learning that can be identified in the reflection
of the graduate?
To what extent did participants engage with the phases of transformative learning?
How did the graduates make meaning of their learning experiences with specific reference
to aspects such as personal and emotional transformation, social adaptably, and disciplinary
knowledge in use?
The seminal works underpinning the research were those of King (Handbook of the Evolving
Research of Transformative Learning Based on the Learning Activities Survey), Mezirow
(Perspective Transformation) and Kolb (Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of
Learning and Development), all of which formed the scaffolding for the development of the
Learning Activity Narrative or LAN. The LAN advances King’s Learning Activities Survey (LAS),
to include narrative data, which fashioned a significant modification of the LAS model. A
further adjustment to the approach was that this study focused on graduates, while previous
studies were conducted with students.
In this exploratory study, I adopted the dual role of researcher and student. As student I had
a journey of personal growth during engagement with participants’ storytelling and narrative
contributions. At the same time, I could identify with the personal development and growth
that the participants experienced through interaction with one another. A methodological approach that drew on elements of narrative and numeric data was
applied. Data sources included a pilot study, online questionnaires, and face-to-face
individual interviews with graduate participants. Participants in the study reported that their
traditional perspectives of personal and emotional transformation, social adaptably and
disciplinary knowledge acquired during their study period, were shaped and changed
considerably in the context of interactions with peers and lecturers, and in specific class
activities. The graduate participants’ narratives reveal how interaction with peers and
educators served as a means for transforming the ways in which they prepared for life in the
work environment, and subsequently in the work environment which contributed to making
them more resilient and adaptable in various professional and interpersonal circumstances.
The value of the study is located in the domain of diffraction, an advanced, iterative and
methodological expansion of the reflective model, which resulted in resonant narrative data.
Diffractive analysis necessitates the engagement in the experience of reading data, rather
than reading the data as separate or independent. The diffractive analysis process engages
the data as a co-constructive force that works with the researcher. The study contributes to
the conceptual discussions of the connections and interruptions between diffraction and
reflection.
Additional information
Thesis (DTech (Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017
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